I don’t remember what I was doing that night when I accidentally stumbled upon the comments section of a Bible page on Amazon.com (English Standard Version, Single Column Journaling edition, Trutone, Chestnut, Leaves Design, Jesus-approved), but inspiration finds you when you least expect it, right?

What I do remember is that there wasn’t a single honest, fair review of the Christian holy text from a literary perspective. As someone who went to college for English and Religious Studies, I felt I was up to the task.

Washington University in St. Louis professor Leigh Eric Schmidt has a new book coming out soon called Village Atheists: How America’s Unbelievers Made Their Way in a Godly Nation all about how godless people were treated in our country more than a century ago. He explores those perceptions through the eyes of four people who may well be described as the “New Atheists” of their time.

We’ll be posting a podcast episode with Dr. Schmidt and an excerpt from his book soon, but I wanted to draw your attention to an interview he did with The Atlantic‘s Emma Green because there was a remarkable line about how difficult it was for outspoken female atheists earlier in our history:

Lloyd Evans, who left the Jehovah’s Witnesses and now writes about the problems within the religion, is publishing a book about his journey out of faith. It’s a book you’ll want to read no matter what your religious background is.